Also, I thought the Tag Title match was really fun, and would probably put it about the UWF rules match, although I rather enjoyed that one, too. Ishii/Makabe was the big stumbling block on the show, in my opinion. I'm not a fan of Ishii, but he and Makabe having a big, dumb, strong style spotfest would be a fine way to close out the first half of the show, and bring us to intermission. Unfortunately, we didn't have intermission, which completely changed the whole dynamic of the show for the next 20 minutes or so, while everyone tried to decompress. Omega & Taguchi just kinda did stuff for a lot of their match, and I thought it went way too long, but put a 20 minute intermission between it and Makabe/Ishii beforehand, and the whole thing becomes deleveraged.

If I'm levelling a criticism at New Japan for WK9, which I thought was a really, really good show, it's that they didn't handle the changing environment of having no intermission very well. They put on the EXACT same show they would have, and as a result, I've seen a lot of first-time NJPW viewers saying that it was like running a marathon, because they just never got a chance to catch their breath.

El Canuck wrote:I'm hearing overwhelming praise amongst those in the wrestling community (both those deep within and on the fringe) that checked out the show. The major difference I spot between them and yourself Red and GReg and Goober is that to them, for the most part, this is very new, novel and shiny. To you guys this is yet another show in what has been an unfolding series for you three. Compared to what THEY'VE been watching, (WWE, RoH, indies they're involved with and TNA) New Japan is a whole different ball game. Whereas you three would hold it to the standards of every other New Japan thing you've watched. So I can see why you would be more critical of it than anyone else watching the show that's not a regular viewer of New Japan or a first time viewer.

It's tough for myself to act as if I'd never seen New Japan before, but this show did have some things that could touch into hardcore fans checking out NJPW for the first time. For someone who has never seen a Japanese strong style match, someone would probably be blown away by Makabe/Ishii, Nakamura/Ibushi. Tanahashi/Okada had a big match feel and to be honest, going into the match and during it, I had no idea what was going to happen or how was going to win. It was a great match between two of the best in the industry today. You also had Okada in such distress that he cried after losing what was the biggest match of his career. There's also some spotty matches that were fine, the tag matches were good and short, Shibata/Goto v. Anderson/Gallows was a really good tag match. AJ/Naito was fun, though didn't topple their Day 4 G1 efforts, there was also that really fun undercard match in Suzuki/Sakuraba (which it was so weird watching Sakuraba compete at Metamoris then wrestle a month later, but hey, that comes with the territory). There was just a lot for someone who had never seen NJPW to enjoy.

For me, I can't speak for Greg, Goober and Jama (who hopefully will see the show soon), and maybe I'm underestimating the parts of the show that are familiar to myself, but this wasn't as good as quite a few NJPW shows last year. That said, the two main events were completely fantastic with Nakamura/Ibushi being a little bit better than Okada/Tanahashi imo, though it's really close and really hinges on the stuff you value more in your wrestling.

Taguchi/Omega sold me immediately on the character work in the first half of the match. Without that, I wouldn't have given any shits for the rest of it.

Ibushi/Nakamura was a sensational affair, with Nakamura looking down so hard at Ibushi, from the interview to the match itself. Ibushi though proving he belonged was a great story.

Okada/Tanahashi have this magic about them. The time listed for their match was about 31 minutes, but they make that time fly by so fast. They enrapture you to what they're doing. Every time I've seen these two face off, the match feels like it's 2/3's as long as it really is, because they draw me in so deep.